


a bouquet of clumsy words

by weird_situation



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Literal Pining, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-22 00:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11368593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weird_situation/pseuds/weird_situation
Summary: A preseason team party was an incredibly inconvenient time to realize your magic was starting to go wild around the guy you were in love with.





	a bouquet of clumsy words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lecavayay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lecavayay/gifts).



> I know you love magic AUs, so I hope this one doesn't disappoint! I had so much fun writing for you!
> 
> Thanks to S for letting me yell at her about this fic and helping bounce ideas around.
> 
> Title is from "Going Away to College" by Blink-182

_ Chlorophytum comosum  _

 

Victor prided himself on being in control of his magic; he hadn’t unintentionally brought houseplants back to life since he was  _ five _ . But there Tyler’s potted plants were: teeming with life after being brown and drooping when Victor walked into the house. It wasn’t like he enjoyed seeing plants slowly waste away - considering his magic was based in nature and all, but he knew plants died and immortal plants would be a little difficult to explain to people who didn’t know about magic so he never interfered. Except now he was spontaneously bringing dead plants back to life and he knew exactly why.

 

A preseason team party was an incredibly inconvenient time to realize your magic was starting to go wild around the guy you were in love with.

 

If he listened to Stammer it was because he was so repressed about his feelings that his magic was acting out to get him to pull his head out of his ass. That, however, was completely inaccurate: Victor was in no way repressed about his feelings towards Tyler - he just wasn’t doing anything with the knowledge. 

 

Victor nudged the newly reanimated plant behind some picture frames, hoping that no one had noticed its sad state when they came in. Not that he was too worried about it; most of the team wouldn’t know a venus fly trap if it bit them in the ass. No, the only real concern was Tyler; it was his house, his plant. And his fault that it came back to life, thought Victor wryly. 

 

“Why are you hiding back here?”

 

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

 

Victor turned to grin at Tyler, shifting so he was blocking the table with the spider plant on it from view.

 

“Needed to get away from Jo’s cologne - he forgot how much was too much again.” And well, that wasn’t necessarily untrue. Jo always smelt a little of smoke; one of the hazards of having fire magic. But he hadn’t accidentally set anything on fire in months, so he was doing better than Victor in that regard. 

 

Tyler laughed and pulled Victor to the backyard where most of the team had gathered for food. Stammer and Cally were at the grill, with Jo sitting nearby - Stammer’s secret weapon for keeping food from overcooking. It was one of the few practical applications of his magic that Jo tolerated; mostly because it meant he got to do magic in front of everyone without them suspecting a thing. When he was just with other magic users he leaned towards the pretty but impractical displays of fire control.

 

If Victor thought the houseplant was a one time situation, he was sorely mistaken. Tyler’s backyard didn’t look drastically different - yet - but Victor could already see where his magic had sunk into the roots of the few plants there were. It was only a matter of time before one of his teammates who had magic noticed.

 

Too caught up in trying to figure out how to reign in his magic when he wasn’t even aware of it slipping in the first place, he didn’t notice Jo walking away from the grill towards him and Tyler.

 

“Hey Tyler, mind if I borrow Heddy for a bit? Need his input on a birthday gift for Stammer. Thanks.” Jo dragged Heddy to an unoccupied section of the backyard, ignoring Tyler’s confused splutters, and then proceeded to stare at him judgmentally.

 

“Stammer’s birthday isn’t until February,” was all Victor could think to say. 

 

Jo muttered something in French under his breath - Victor had a feeling it wasn’t flattering. He just shrugged when Jo frowned at him.

 

“Johnny might be an idiot, but even he’s going to pay attention when his backyard suddenly looks like a tropical forest.” 

 

Victor didn’t disagree, but - “Didn’t you set MacKinnon on fire without him noticing back in juniors? And you definitely set Stammer on fire at least once your rookie year.” Stammer would have had some very burnt hair if he hadn’t been near any water at the time. Luckily water jumped to do whatever he wanted. Victor envied the ease with which he used his magic.

 

Jo hissed and turned back to the grill, glaring at Stammer. Apparently those stories weren’t supposed to be shared. Oops. 

 

“I’m working on it; trust me, I don’t want him noticing anything any more than you do.”

 

Turning back to Victor, Jo rolled his eyes. “You idiot, the point isn’t for him to notice nothing - just to not notice the plants that grow unnaturally around him. I think you should go and ask him to fuck already, personally.” He smirked at the gobsmacked look on Victor’s face. “Your pining gets more literal by the minute, clearly it’s time to confront the root of the problem.”

 

Victor took a deep breath before walking away from him. Someone who’d set multiple crushes on fire wasn’t someone he was going to take romantic advice from.

 

***

_ Prunus persica  _

 

“Oh! Peaches!” Tyler’s delighted voice came from the kitchen in the players’ lounge. 

 

Victor groaned. Of course. He’d brought in the peaches that he’d ripened on his neighbor’s peach tree because he was sick of eating them and figured the guys wouldn’t turn down free food. Slater had come in earlier and looked shifty as he took five of them before wandering off, presumably in Coby’s direction. He wasn’t sure what was happening between those two, but if his peaches helped them, then good. 

 

Tyler walked over to the couch that Victor had claimed and plopped down next to him, a peach in hand.

 

“Do you want a bite?” Tyler asked, holding out the peach. Victor shook his head and Tyler shrugged, bringing his hand back in and taking a large bite.

 

He made a startled sound as juice ran down his chin and fingers; any fruit Victor’s magic touched tended to stay juicy, a skill he was regretting having cultivated now, as he looked helplessly at Tyler.

 

Tyler who was licking his fingers with the point of his tongue before sucking them into his mouth to get any remaining juice. He swiped at his chin, just making more of a mess of himself. Juice ran down his hand onto his wrist and as he lifted it up to his mouth, his stupid bicep flexed and Victor coughed to hide the choking sound he’d made.

 

He got a concerned look at that, but Victor just waved it away, taking a deep drink of his water. Tyler shrugged and went back to his peach, which had managed to make even more of a mess of his hands while he was focused on Victor.

 

Sexual frustration was a slow way to die, but it seemed to be the way Victor was going to die if he couldn’t keep his eyes off of Tyler fingers in his mouth. Clearly he lacked any semblance of self-preservation. But he managed to tear his eyes away from Tyler’s practically pornographic peach eating and attempted to focus on the article he’d been reading on his phone before he was interrupted.

 

And it worked - for a few moments. 

 

“These are really good peaches. Like. The best I’ve ever had.”

 

Victor was not squirming at the praise because it wasn’t meant for him - it was meant for the peaches that he was only indirectly responsible for. But it was always satisfying to hear that his use of magic was successful, even by those who had no clue magic was involved. He turned to look at Tyler, who was humming contentedly as he finished the peach and messed around on his phone. 

 

“You should really try one,” said Tyler, before tossing the pit towards the trash, doing a silly shimmy that Victor would never admit to finding attractive when it landed inside. “Nothing but net.”

 

“Just need to hit your growth spurt and you’re ready for the NBA.” He laughed at the mock outrage on Tyler’s face.

 

“Good things come in small packages.” Tyler winked at Victor as he stood up. “And I am  _ very  _ good.”

 

Victor held his breath until Tyler left the lounge, releasing it as he dropped his head into his hands. He really didn’t need to imagine just how good Tyler could be.

 

***

_ Passiflora suberosa _

 

Victor was going to kill Stammer. It didn’t matter that he was his best friend, these were extenuating circumstances.

 

It was well known on the team that Tyler was even more physically affectionate than usual when he was drunk. Victor was perfectly capable of reigning in his feelings and his magic when they were all out at the bar together and Tyler decided to tuck himself under his arm in the booth. It helped that most bars weren’t big on having foliage as decor, but even so he was used to Tyler’s drunken affection by now. 

 

Which is why he wasn’t paying as much attention as he should have when Brayden slid in next to Tyler and started chattering about faceoffs. Victor ignored their conversation for awhile - he didn’t ever take faceoffs - until he heard Brayden start choking on a laugh. He pushed someone’s glass of water towards him and tuned into the conversation.

 

“S’true! That’s why I’m so good at faceoffs - my ass is always in the air.” Tyler nodded sagely at Brayden, who was drunkenly hanging on his every word. Someone probably should have kept Brayden out of the alcohol considering he was still underage in the States, but hell. He deserved a drink just as much as the rest of them. 

 

But if Tyler was talking about his ass, it was time to get him home. Once he got on the topic it was always a toss up if he’d talk about it for minutes or hours. He had a lot of opinions about his own ass and wasn’t afraid to share them.  

 

Victor waved a hand towards Stammer, then looked pointedly at Tyler and Brayden. Stammer  nodded and proceeded to throw him under the bus by making him Tyler’s designated driver. He ignored Victor’s glare as he yelled at Val to come grab his rookie. Brayden’s eyes light up as Val came into view and he nearly tripped getting out of the booth to get to him.

 

Stammer’s sly grin went unnoticed by most of the team, but Victor knew exactly what he was doing. He made a mental note to get back at him soon as he wrangled Tyler into his car.

 

Tyler was doing his best to be helpful which of course meant the process of getting his seatbelt on took three times as long as it should have. But when he beamed up at Victor after successfully clicking it together there was nothing to do but smile back down at him.  

 

The drive was comfortably silent, occasionally punctuated by Tyler humming along to whatever came on the radio. It wasn’t until they pulled into Tyler’s driveway that he started to ramble.

 

“I think my backyard is alive,” said Tyler as he tried to undo his seatbelt with little success. Eventually he just gave up and turned to face Victor with it still on. “It keeps  _ growing  _ and I’m not doing anything. Maybe it just likes me better now. Oh, thanks!” He grinned brightly at Victor who’d undone his seatbelt for him. “I think your car likes me too. Didn’t want to let me go!”

 

Victor was immensely grateful his magic was limited to plants; he couldn’t imagine what it’d decide to do if he had metal based magic like Kuch, or hell, even ice magic like Pally. At least he only made things grow - it would be much harder to hide magic if it was trapping people in seatbelts. 

 

Luckily Tyler was just drunk.

 

“Come see my plants,” demanded Tyler as he stumbled out of the passenger seat.

 

And well, Victor couldn’t refuse that invitation.

 

They made their way to the gate that led to the backyard, Victor keeping one arm out to steady Tyler if he needed it despite the way he was determinedly stumbling forward. Surprisingly they made it through the gate and into the backyard with no mishaps. 

 

Victor looked around and winced at just how much it had changed from before the season. It had only been about a month, but the change was significant. Before Tyler had a pretty minimalistic backyard, but now it looked... _ lush.  _ Bright flowers punctuated spaces that had been empty before, trees seemed just a little bit brighter and fuller, and everything was drenched in Victor’s magic. Not that Tyler would know about that part, but to anyone who was magic and even vaguely familiar with Victor’s aura they would know that he was all over the backyard.

 

He was so distracted by just how much of  _ him  _ there was in the backyard that he didn’t notice Tyler dropping to his knees over by a bunch of green and purple flowers. 

 

“Come here,” whined Tyler. Victor refused to admit even to himself that it was endearing, but he walked over to Tyler and the flowers and stood next to them, not wanting to get his jeans dirty.

 

“These ones are my favorite because they’re a little prickly, but still pretty.” Tyler tilted his face up towards Victor, eyes bright in the moonlight and oh  _ fuck. _

 

Several of the flowers bloomed rapidly from green to purple as Victor tried to will himself to stay calm in the face of Tyler  _ on his knees  _ looking up at him through his unfairly long eyelashes. He was grateful it was dark and Tyler was drunk because otherwise he’d have some serious explaining to do. As it was Tyler would definitely notice a difference in his backyard in the morning or whenever he sobered up because  _ everything _ was reacting to Victor’s unexpected flare of arousal. 

 

“They’re very nice,” Victor managed to say when Tyler’s smile started to waver at the silence. “Very good, ah, prickles?” 

 

Tyler nodded, satisfied with that and turned to look back down at the flowers, not seeming to notice any difference just yet.

 

“I don’t even remember having all these plants before,” he confided. “But they look so nice I don’t even care.” He pursed his lips before looking back up at Victor. “They feel happy. That sounds dumb, but they do.” He shrugged and struggled to his feet, grabbing the hand Victor held out on autopilot.

 

If Tyler was getting emotions from the plants then Victor really needed to get his shit together or the next time any of the other magic users on the team came over he’d never hear the end of it. And considering how often Pally came over, he was surprised he hadn’t already been getting shit for it. 

 

After helping Tyler into his house and getting back to his car, Victor texted Pally.

 

_ Been to Johnny’s lately? _

 

_ yes. his backyard stinks of you.  _

 

_ you should tell him. it’s getting sad. _

 

Victor tossed his phone into the passenger seat and sighed. It was getting sad.

 

***

_ Quercus rubra _

 

Early winter in Brooklyn was lovely; sure the plants were mostly dead, but the air was crisp and refreshing. Unfortunately for Victor he wasn’t able to properly enjoy the weather like usual because he was too busy trying to keep him magic from reaching out and bringing the leaves back to the trees months before they were due and other plants back to peak greenness. He could sense Stammer’s judgement without even having to look at him. But it wasn’t Victor’s fault that Tyler and Pally had decided to tag along for lunch and that Tyler’s ass looked so good in his jeans.

 

Stammer had fallen back to walk beside Victor, keeping his judgement silent until Tyler bent over to tie his shoe and a planter full of sad, dead flowers suddenly burst into bloom. Victor coughed uncomfortably as Stammer’s head slowly turned to stare at him. 

 

“Premature blooming? Really?” Stammer muttered. “Don’t they teach you how to reign in your magic in over in Sweden?” The gentle teasing was accompanied with a shoulder nudge. “Seriously though, you might need to use your words at some point. I don’t think Johnny understands plants well enough to get that you want to bone him.”

 

Victor was not going to cover his ears with his hands as much as he wanted to. He was a grown adult who could listen to his friend’s advice - questionable as the delivery might be - without wanting to die of embarrassment. Stammer just laughed at whatever look was on his face.

 

Pally turned back to look at them, a confused look on his face. Realization quickly replaced it as he saw the planter and he hurried Tyler along, rolling his eyes at Victor before turning back to watch where he was walking.

 

Victor was not blushing. So what if his magic was a little excited around Tyler? He was completely capable of maintaining control over it. It was just a little more difficult than usual.

 

Tyler’s laugh rang out and the oak tree nearest Victor promptly had green leaves again. Victor determinedly stared straight ahead as he leeched the life back out of the leaves. It wouldn’t do to have one tree unexpectedly brimming with green leaves among all the trees with bare branches.

 

Possibly Stammer’s raised eyebrow of disbelief was deserved this time.

 

***

_ Arecaceae  _

 

The best part about being an All Star, other than the recognition of his skills of course, was that the All Star Game was in LA this year, and Victor didn’t have to deal with nasty weather while being a part of the whole circus the NHL had going on.

 

Well that and the fact that Kuch had to suffer along with him.

 

Not that Kuch was suffering right now if the amount of alcohol he’d drank had anything to say about it. He was leaning heavily on Victor in their booth, idly stroking the silverware some well meaning server had left behind when their food had been delivered and watching some of the younger guys embarrassing themselves on the dancefloor. The fork was slowly melting into a puddle of stainless steel with every pass of Kuch’s fingers. Victor had no doubt that it would end up reformed into something that would in no way resemble a fork. Maybe it would be a tiger; Kuch was on a large cat kick lately. 

 

Kuch mumbled something into Victor’s shoulder, too low for him to catch most of it, but the “Johnny” was clear enough and he sighed. That got Kuch’s attention and he sat up and turned to squint at Victor.

 

“Soft magic makes you -” Kuch waved a hand around for a few moments before deciding on what Victor assumed was the least offensive way to put whatever he wanted to call him “ - shy.” He leaned in close to Victor’s face, his face suddenly intense. “Do not let love wil...wilther?” He waved away the word; he didn’t need to know plant words in English, especially not when he was six shots and two drinks in. “Take Johnny on a date.” His lips turned up in a mischievous grin. “He puts out on the first date.”

 

Victor reached over and stole one of the various shots at their table and tossed it back. That  _ really  _ wasn’t the kind of information he needed right now, when he still had the memory of Tyler looking up at him through his ridiculous eyelashes while practically on his knees for him.

 

Kuch just smirked at him, as if he knew exactly what was going through his mind. He turned back to his puddle of metal, rubbing his fingers together before beginning to form the former fork into a new shape. 

 

It was always fascinating watching Kuch work magic - it was more structured than any of the other magics on the team. So while Kuch might accidentally rattle the silverware if he was startled or pissed off enough, he tended to have precise results. It’s why he rarely let the equipment guys sharpen the blades on his skates; there was no need when he could keep the edges as sharp as he liked. Victor’s own magic had nowhere near that precise of an application; plants didn’t tend to do what people wanted them to do. It was part of the reason why he was having more difficulty than anticipated with keeping his magic from spilling over around Tyler. His magic was so tied up in plants that it acted the way they did. Which is to say, however they wanted and not how he’d like them to.

 

Victor frowned as Kuch manipulated the steel into a solid form. It definitely wasn’t a tiger, in fact it looked like - oh hell. It was a rose. Kuch smirked as he placed it in front of Victor. 

 

“For luck.” He blew Victor a kiss before tossing back another shot and going to join the others on the dance floor.

 

Victor shook his head and grabbed another shot off the table, glaring at the rose before stuffing it in his pocket. 

 

Nosy teammates were the worst.

 

***

_ Anthurium andraeanum _

 

The doorbell rang just as Victor settled onto his couch with a beer and he sighed. He levered himself off the couch, dropping his beer off on a coaster before heading over to the door. A giant bouquet of red and pink flowers greeted him. 

 

Red and pink flowers that were soaked in his magic which meant…

 

“Hi,” said Tyler softly, grinning up at Victor. “I brought you flowers?”

 

Bemused, Victor moved aside and let him in. “Hello,” he added, belatedly, as he followed Tyler into his kitchen.

 

Tyler looked at home as he settled the flowers on top of the counter and poked at them, arranging them the way he wanted them to look. He fiddled with the flowers more than was strictly necessary which was Victor’s second clue that something was up. Obviously the first was that Tyler had shown up with flowers in the first place. He wasn’t suspicious - flowers weren’t exactly sinister, but he was confused. 

 

“Thank you,” he said, realizing he hadn’t thanked Tyler yet. “They’re beautiful.”

 

And they were - even if that was a somewhat vain thought considering they were a product of his own magic.

 

Tyler just nodded, with that same soft grin on his face. “I, uh, actually wanted to ask you something?”

Ah, so now he would find out what he was up to. He nodded and walked over to lean against the counter next to Tyler.

 

Nodding and taking a deep breath, Tyler shut his eyes tight for moment before speaking. “I think we should go on a date. In a romantic way, not a bro date.”

 

He should have seen it coming - the flowers and soft smiles were a huge giveaway in retrospect - but Victor was shocked at Tyler’s words. So much so that he didn’t react in time when his magic reached out and the flowers sitting between him and Tyler rapidly grew larger than they would naturally.

 

“Holy shit!” Tyler fell back onto his ass on the floor and Victor would have laughed normally, but right now he was panicking.

 

Tyler looked up at Victor, mouth open in stunned surprise. Shrugging, Victor crouched down and held out a hand to him. He took the offered hand and looked suspiciously at the vase of flowers as Victor led him over to the table.

 

After settling Tyler down in one of the chairs, Victor took his own seat and just stared at his hands for a second.

 

“You weren’t surprised by that.”

 

He looked up to see Tyler’s face scrunched up in thought. Sighing he shook his head.

 

“Plants like me,” he said slowly, trying to gather his words. “I have...magic that connects well with nature. Plants react to my emotions if I’m not careful. They bloom or wilt depending on what I feel.”

 

Tyler looked disbelieving so Victor rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the various potted herbs he had sitting on the windowsill over his sink. He sat back down at the table and put the pot between them.

 

“Watch.” 

 

He pushed just a little, enough to make the mint leaves grow noticeably and their scent to become prominent before pulling back and letting the mint go back to its natural state.

 

“So my plants…?” Tyler asked, mouth twisted in a way that Victor didn’t think he liked.

 

“Were reacting to me,” he confirmed, confused when Tyler’s head thumped down into his arms on the table. “It’s not a bad thing?”

 

Tyler just shook his head, still buried in his arms.

 

Victor wasn’t sure what to do with a Tyler who was suddenly bashful; it went against everything he knew about him. He wasn’t even entirely sure why Tyler was acting like this considering Victor was the one who’d just confessed to having such a huge crush that he lost control of his magic. But here he was, trying to catch Tyler’s eye to see how he was reacting to the whole thing. 

 

“Tyler?” he said softly. He was surprised when Tyler actually looked up in response.

 

“So you’re the reason all my plants have been doing so well?” Half of his mouth turned up in a self-deprecating grin. “And here I thought I’d managed to figure out how to stop killing them.”

 

Victor shrugged helplessly. He didn’t know what Tyler wanted him to say.

 

Tyler snorted. “So I definitely just tried to ask you out using flowers you grew. Does that count as re-gifting?”

 

“I...don’t know?” 

 

“God this is so embarrassing.” Tyler leaned over and buried his face in his arms.

 

“Why?” Now Victor was  _ really  _ confused. He crossed the kitchen and sat down next to Tyler at the table.

 

Tyler just shook his head without lifting it up and Victor rolled his eyes. 

 

“You’re going to have to use your words on this one,” he said, debating whether or not poking at Tyler’s arm would be helpful.

 

Before he could reach a decision Tyler’s head popped up, face still slightly pink. 

 

“I thought  _ I  _ was the one taking care of my plants and it turns out it was you all along. I told my mom I was keeping plants alive for more than a month! She was so proud that it was insulting! And then I gave you back your own flowers.” Tyler’s face had gotten progressively pinker as he went on. “Do you see how this is humiliating for me?”

 

“No?” Victor rolled his eyes at Tyler’s disbelieving laugh. “Those flowers wouldn’t be here without you.”   
  


“What?”

 

“I don’t go around making everything bloom on purpose; that would cause problems. But around you, my magic doesn’t want to be quiet. It responds to how I feel about you - so you’re the reason everything’s been blooming lately. Not me.”

 

Tyler’s eyes were even more wide at that than they were when Victor first told him he was magic. Victor wasn’t sure what to make of that.

 

“Dude. You’re totally in love with me.” 

 

“Yes?” Victor shrugged; wasn’t that what he’d been saying this entire conversation?

 

Tyler abruptly stood up and looked down at Victor for a moment before settling himself in his lap.

 

“Hi,” said Tyler, hooking his arms around Victor’s neck. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

 

Victor leaned in first, capturing Tyler’s lips with his. Tyler’s arms tightened around his neck and they both laughed a little before settling into the kiss. He could feel his magic itching to go out and make something grow, and he didn’t bother trying to hold it back anymore, too focused on the feel of Tyler’s mouth against his or the small whine he made when Victor bit at his bottom lip or any of the other new sensations he was being overwhelmed with.

 

It wasn’t until Tyler pulled back, breathing hard, and looked around with wide eyes that he took stock of what his magic had done.

 

His magic had run wild; all the various plants he had stashed around his kitchen had grown past any natural limit, colors bright and scents strong. The flowers Tyler had brought over had expanded out of the vase and were flowing off of the counter in a stunning floral cascade. He was a little concerned about what the rest of his house looked like, but the delighted smile on Tyler’s face was infinitely more compelling, so Victor pulled him back down for another kiss.

 

The plants could wait.

**Author's Note:**

> “You’re taking the whole magic thing shockingly well.”
> 
> “You play in the Dub you see all sorts of weird things. It’s easier to just roll with whatever happens instead of freaking out.”


End file.
